Frisian Frillies

I know, it's Thursday, but it has been a while since my latest Shetland update, and our fly-out date is getting nearer... so, a quick look at where the sweater now stands! Getting close!!! Last night, I finally attached the two sleeves, which knit up pretty quickly, and now I'm on the home straight. The sleeve just reaches past the elbow, just the way I like it. And the length of the body is just right! I had added a bit of length, because on the pictures I found it a bit short. And as I spend a lot of time sitting down, the last thing I want to do is keep having to pull down the sweater over my bum. And this is where some of the 'magic' is going to happen... The steek at the front, where the knitting has to be cut, folded back and then used as the basis for the neckline.  About the neckline, I realised a few days ago that I would not have enough pecan yarn to finish it. Even though you don't see many brown stitches in the ribbing, the yarn has to...

Knitting al fresco in Denmark.... Live @ Faaborg beach Cotton bag @ Faaborg camping Sherilyn @ Fins Hoved Sherilyn @ Koge Beach Sherilyn @ Kronborg (Elsinore) Sherilyn @ the S-train. To be continued...

Just in time for the Olympics to start, a blog about the final stage of the Tour de Fleece. I had a blast, it was a great stress reliever to get some spinning done in the evening after a hard and long day's work. So, without ado, my newly acquired knitting stash: I spun lots of naturals this year, which was great fun. It has resulted in enough yarn to knit a small Celtic or Shetland patterned blanket. Still thinking about how and what.  The other skeins are now just lying in my yarn basket, being pretty. The silk is 3/4 done. And it will remain that way for a few weeks. I've spent this afternoon (what was left of it after finishing my final project and the VAT returns) to pick projects for the Ravellenic Games aka Raveoly aka Spoldemort aka The Olympic Games. USOC, we have forgiven you (we knitters never hold a grudge for long), you apologized , but we will continue to enjoy making comments at how silly you guys behave . In a way that won't result in a Cease and D...

For these two stages (and the rest of the Tour, to be honest) I will be spinning silk... I started on the Challenge day. Not only a challenge because of doing something different than normal wool roving, but also challenging because it's extremely busy, and I usually don't get anywhere close to the spinning wheel until around 11 pm... So how does this work? First, you buy one or more stacks of hankies (if you're silly like me, about 4), you pell one off, pull it apart, pull pull and pull some more until you get the thread as thin as required, and then you start spinning. This time, my silk is thin, very thin... Definitely challenging and slow, but fun!

Oooooh, it's been soooo busy here! We've been working like mad to get all our work done before we go away on holiday. Add a trip to Ikea with corresponding furniture to put together, and you have total mayhem when it comes to blogging... Luckily, I have been making my collages every day, so here's a low-down of the spinning of the last few days! July 10 On the first rest day, I decided to do some dyeing. Especially the teal came out beautifully! I have some more curls and some more teal dye, so this experiment will probably be repeated. The drying took forever, but this bag full of soft, colourful curls is now in a basket next to the spinning wheel. July 11 Spinning the ouessant I had carded, was not really great. I was spinning too thin and it should have been carded again, as there was still quite a lot of 'fluff' in the fleece. But, after n-plying, it came out okay, and a wash will probably do miracles. I have a bag full of this left, so there wi...

A combined post for three days, again. And as I was still working on the same yarn, it's a quick post... The BFL spun up like a dream, but as I had little time every day, it did take me 3 days to do. After n-ply, it turned out to be a 144 m skein. Very squiggly, as I overplied. But after a bath and a light beating, it's now hanging on the line, much more relaxed... 

And then it was Saturday! How time flies... Yes, I was spinning, and yes, there are collages. I was just a bit too busy to upload and write a post every day... On Wednesday, July 4, I spun another load of Gotland curls. So soft and nice to spin with! The two batches were plied, washed and dried on Thursday, just in time before the heavens opened... And yesterday, I spoiled myself and spun some colour... As I'm translating a veggie BBQ book, we decided to fire up the barbie. I marinaded some veggies, hubby got out some meat for the Mo/asses and we all had a great evening. Spinning wheel whirring, we patiently waited until everything was done... Especially the BBQ'd pineapple was lovely! Today is more spinning, and a bit of knitting...  Plus lots of enjoying the lovely weather outside!